Letter to the Committee Specialist from
the Head, Parliamentary Relations Team, Foreign and Commonwealth
Office
Thank you for your letter of 31 July asking
for further clarification on some of the points made by Lord Malloch-Brown
at his evidence session on 2nd July. Please find our responses
below.
CHINA'S
HUMAN RIGHTS
OBLIGATIONS TOWARDS
DPRK EMIGRANTS
The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)
has publicly stated, including in documents on its website, that
China should not return refugees to the DPRK. The UNHCR in Beijing
has regularly raised this issue with the Chinese authorities in
relation to individuals who have registered with the UNHCR as
refugees (around 180 DPRK citizens at the time of writing). It
has also consistently, but unsuccessfully, sought access to the
areas along the DPRK border where most emigrants are to be found.
This would help it to gain a better picture of the circumstances
surrounding such emigrants' move to China.
Either the receiving state (ie China) or the
UNHCR can determine if an individual is a refugee. If the authorities
then return that person to their country of origin, the receiving
state is in breach of the refugee conventions. There is no enforcement
mechanism for the convention, but member states and the UNHCR
can call on a member state to comply with the terms of the conventions
if they believe a breach has taken place. The UK has not yet done
so in this case, judging that it was more effective to raise this
bilaterally and through the EU. However, we are considering raising
the issue at the next Executive Committee meeting in October.
If the Chinese authorities were to return someone they, or the
UNHCR, have recognised as a refugee, the UK would consider that
a violation of the principle of non-refoulement.
UN COMMAND (UNC)
The UNC has kept participating states informed
of arrangements for reconfiguration of the Combined Forces Command
(CFC) in the run-up to 2012 through monthly meetings with the
relevant Ambassadors in Seoul. The new Commander of the CFC has
also publicly committed to continue this process as plans develop.
Furthermore, the Deputy Chief of Staff at the UNC, Major General
Weida, will visit the capitals of all participating states in
the next 12 months to discuss the issue with officials. He will
visit London on 8 and 9 September, when he will meet the Chairman
of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mike Gapes MP, as well as senior
officials from FCO and MoD.
In the past, the UK has provided junior officers
on an ad hoc basis to the UNC Military Armistice Commission (UNCMAC)
Joint Duty Office, using officers who were temporarily available
between tours of duty. In practice, commitments elsewhere have
meant that we have not had officers available for the attachment
since January 2008. Nevertheless, the UK Government remains willing
to continue this arrangement when capacity allows.
Regarding the provision of an officer to UNC
(Rear) in Japan, General Bell, the last Commander UNC, wrote to
capitals last year, seeking commitment from participating states
to fill this post on an annual rotational basis, following the
decision by the UK to withdraw our permanent post there. Under
this agreement, Thailand has an officer in post now until 2009,
when he will be replaced by Turkey and then France. The UK will
participate in this rota, and is committed to providing an officer
in 2015.
EU—REPUBLIC
OF KOREA
FREE TRADE
AGREEMENT (FTA)
We still do not have a formal timetable from
the European Commission regarding a decision on whether goods
from the Kaesong Industrial Complex should be included in the
terms of the FTA. However, we anticipate that a decision will
probably be taken before the ASEM Summit on 25 October, as the
next round of formal negotiations are due to take place in the
margins of that meeting. We are currently in the process of preparing
the ground for a decision in London and Brussels.
JAPANESE INWARD
INVESTMENT AND
THE POINTS-BASED
IMMIGRATION SYSTEM
As the Committee will be aware, the Government's
new Points Based System is designed to streamline the process
of legal migration to the UK and ensure that only those who benefit
the UK are able to come here to work or study.
The issue Lord Malloch-Brown was referring to
in his evidence related to an English language requirement under
"Tier 2" of the new system, which applies to skilled
workers with a job offer to fill gaps in the UK labour force.
Under the original proposal, all employees transferring within
an organisation to a skilled job under Tier 2 would have been
required to meet an English language requirement at Council of
Europe level B2 ("independent user").
The Japanese Government and Japanese investors
were concerned that this language requirement would have severely
limited their ability to bring skilled workers from Japan to the
UK. Many Japanese manufacturers in the UK transfer technical experts
from their Japanese operations to pass on knowledge of production
processes to the UK workforce. Many of these workers would not
meet the language requirement originally proposed. Yet they come
to the UK for strictly limited periods and assimilation into the
UK population is not a serious issue. In the run-up to the publication
of the Statement of Intent on Tier 2 in May 2008, the UK Government
received a number of expressions of concern from the Japanese
Government and major Japanese investors, including from the major
Japanese car makers, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association
and the Japan Auto Parts Industries Association.
During this period the Home Office, as lead
department, worked closely with partners across Whitehall, including
the Foreign Office, UKTI and BERR, to reach a solution that preserved
the UK's attractiveness as an investment location without compromising
the integrity and objectives of the Points Based System. As a
result, a solution was reached whereby intra-company transfers
will not be required to demonstrate English language ability if
they stay in the UK less than three years. Beyond three years
the required level is closest to Council of Europe level A1 ("basic
user").
The FCO is confident that this outcome maintains
the competitiveness of the UK as an investment location for Japanese
and other international companies without undermining the objectives
of the Points Based System. The Japanese Embassy in London has
expressed itself satisfied with this outcome and a number of major
Japanese investors have expressed their appreciation for HMG efforts
over the issue.
29 August 2008
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